FEATURE ARTICLE 2: INTERSTATE COMMUTERS
The movement of workers across state and territory borders can have implications for how federal, state/territory and local governments plan and distribute funding, infrastructure and other amenities. This article uses data from the 2006 Census of Population and Housing to analyse these movements and relates to the main job of the individual in the week prior to the Census. Employed people who live in one state but work in another are referred to in this article as interstate commuters.

According to the 2006 Census, 101,300 people commuted interstate for work in the week prior to the Census, accounting for 1% of all employed persons. Of those, 62% were men and 38% were women. The age distribution of people who commuted interstate for work was similar to that of all employed people.

Commuting from...

In 2006, 4% of all employed people living in the Australian Capital Territory commuted interstate for work in the week prior to the Census (table 8.29). The states and territories with the next highest proportion of interstate commuters were New South Wales (2%) and the Northern Territory (2%). People who lived in the Australian Capital Territory were more likely to commute interstate for work due to its small size and the fact that it is surrounded by New South Wales.

New South Wales had the largest number of people who commuted outside of the state to work (48,300) followed by Victoria (20,200) and Queensland (15,500) (table 8.30).

Commuting to...

The Australian Capital Territory also received proportionally more interstate commuters than any other state or territory. In 2006, 12% of people working in the Australian Capital Territory were usual residents of another state or territory (table 8.29). These people commuted into Canberra from nearby Queanbeyan, Yass and adjacent semi-rural areas of New South Wales.

New South Wales received the largest number of interstate commuters (30,000), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (22,500), Victoria (17,900) and Queensland (16,900) (Table 8.30).

8.30 Employed persons(a), Place of usual residence and place of work(b)

NewSouthWales

Victoria

Queen-
land

South Australia

Western Australia

Tas-
mania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Total employed exited

Totalemployed

Place of Usual Residence(b)

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

New South Wales

2 718 323

12 352

11 816

739

1 373

229

734

21 016

48 259

2 766 582

Victoria

13 297

2 141 997

2 617

1 352

1 344

416

586

625

20 237

2 162 234

Queensland

9 081

2 267

1 720 747

742

1 388

203

1 330

490

15 501

1 736 248

South Austraila

921

1 341

834

655 089

686

72

483

153

4 490

659 579

Western Australia

865

945

748

432

884 869

74

544

126

3 734

888 603

Tasmania

365

585

366

109

249

194 508

86

74

1 834

196 342

Northern Territory

191

197

298

149

389

14

80 942

44

1 282

82 224

Australian Capital Territory

5 328

230

188

47

79

10

52

163 524

5 934

169 458

Total employed entered

30 048

17 917

16 867

3 570

5 508

1 018

3 815

22 528

101 271

. .

Total employed

2 748 371

2 159 914

1 737 614

658 659

890 377

195 526

84 757

186 052

. .

8 661 270

. . not applicable

(a) Excludes those employed persons who did not say where they were working (not stated).

(b) 'Other Territories' excluded from analysis due to very small numbers.

Source: Census of Population and Housing, 2006.

Commuting flows

Table 8.31 shows that of those who lived in New South Wales but worked interstate, 44% worked in the Australian Capital Territory, 26% in Victoria and 25% in Queensland. The combination of these three bordering states accounted for 94% of employed people who lived in and commuted from New South Wales.

For employed people who lived in and commuted from Victoria, 66% worked in New South Wales and 7% worked in South Australia, both of which share a border with Victoria. This pattern was similar for most other states and territories. However, this was not the case with Western Australia. About 68% of employed people who commuted from Western Australia commuted to non-bordering states - Victoria (25%), New South Wales (23%) and Queensland (20%).

8.31 INTERSTATE COMMUTERS, Proportion from each state(a) - August 2006

Place of work(b)

New South Wales

Victoria

Queens-land

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Total

Place of Usual Residence(b)

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

New South Wales

. .

25.6

24.5

1.5

2.8

0.5

1.5

43.5

100.0

Victoria

65.7

. .

12.9

6.7

6.6

2.1

2.9

3.1

100.0

Queensland

58.6

14.6

. .

4.8

9.0

1.3

8.6

3.2

100.0

South Australia

20.5

29.9

18.6

. .

15.3

1.6

10.8

3.4

100.0

Western Australia

23.2

25.3

20.0

11.6

. .

2.0

14.6

3.4

100.0

Tasmania

19.9

31.9

20.0

5.9

13.6

. .

4.7

4.0

100.0

Northern Territory

14.9

15.4

23.2

11.6

30.3

1.1

. .

3.4

100.0

Australian Capital Territory

89.8

3.9

3.2

0.8

1.3

0.2

0.9

. .

100.0

. . not applicable

(a) Excludes those employed persons who did not say where they were working (not stated).

(b) 'Other Territories' excluded from analysis due to very small numbers.

Source: Census of Population and Housing, 2006.

In which industries do commuters work?

Interstate commuting is more closely associated with some industries than others (table 8.32). For example, the Public administration and safety industry accounted for just 7% of all employed people in 2006 but represented 14% of all interstate commuters in 2006. Similarly, the Mining industry accounted for 1% of all employment in 2006, but 3% of all interstate commuters.

The industries with the highest proportion of interstate commuters varied by state and territory. Manufacturing was the most common industry of people who commuted to New South Wales and Victoria. In 2006, 11% of those who commuted to New South Wales and 16% of those who commuted to Victoria worked in Manufacturing. In contrast, Mining was the most common industry of commuters to South Australia (13%) and Western Australia (19%). This is associated with the large amount of mining activity in these states. People working in the Construction industry accounted for 20% of those who commuted to work in the Northern Territory and 15% of those who commuted to Queensland, reflecting the high levels of construction activity occurring within these two economies with some of this construction associated with developments in mining.

In the Australian Capital Territory, more than one third of commuters (34%) came to work in Public administration and safety, reflecting the fact that this is the largest employing industry in the Australian Capital Territory, accounting for 32% of total employment in 2006.

8.32 Proportion of Employed Persons who Commuted to state/territory, By industry(a) - August 2006

Place of work(b)

New South Wales

Victoria

Queens-land

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Australia

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Agriculture, forestry and fishing

4.5

3.3

4.4

7.5

4.0

7.2

5.4

0.3

3.5

Mining

1.0

1.4

3.9

13.3

18.5

2.8

12.0

-

3.1

Manufacturing

11.1

15.9

9.3

12.6

7.0

7.5

7.2

4.1

9.7

Electricity, gas, water and waste services

1.3

0.9

0.8

1.3

1.2

2.7

0.3

0.8

1.0

Construction

8.2

6.4

14.7

9.6

17.3

7.0

19.9

5.6

9.4

Wholesale trade

5.4

6.4

4.0

3.6

2.8

2.9

1.2

2.6

4.3

Retail trade

10.1

11.0

8.0

5.4

5.5

7.7

4.0

7.1

8.6

Accommodation and food services

8.3

5.3

9.1

4.3

5.8

5.4

6.8

3.8

6.5

Transport, postal and warehousing

7.9

7.1

6.1

9.3

8.3

17.3

5.4

3.1

6.4

Information media and telecommunications

1.7

2.3

1.9

2.3

1.2

1.8

1.1

2.4

2.0

Financial and insurance services

2.8

3.0

2.2

2.0

1.1

2.8

0.5

1.9

2.3

Rental, hiring and real estate services

1.4

1.1

2.1

0.7

0.9

1.9

0.7

1.2

1.3

Professional, scientific and technical services

5.3

6.8

6.3

5.4

6.4

4.7

3.7

10.3

6.8

Administrative and support services

2.5

3.3

3.4

3.5

2.7

2.5

3.9

2.5

2.9

Public administration and safety

9.4

7.6

5.4

7.1

8.3

5.5

13.3

34.3

14.0

Education and training

5.3

5.4

4.5

3.0

2.1

4.9

4.0

6.8

5.2

Health care and social assistance

8.9

8.5

9.0

5.0

4.2

10.8

6.4

8.2

8.2

Arts and recreation services

2.2

1.6

2.2

2.5

1.0

3.0

2.3

1.4

1.9

Other services

2.7

2.7

2.7

1.9

1.7

2.0

1.9

3.6

2.8

Total(b)

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

(a) Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (1292.0).

(b) 'Other Territories' excluded from analysis due to very small numbers.

In 2006, the occupational distribution of interstate commuters broadly reflected the occupational distribution of all employed people, although people in the higher skilled occupations were slightly more likely to commute than others (table 8.33). Those working in the Professional occupation group accounted for 22% of all interstate commuters, while they represented 21% of all employed. Conversely, Sales workers accounted for 10% of the total employed, but they only represented 8% of interstate commuters.

For almost all states and territories (except Western Australia and the Northern Territory), people working as Professionals formed the largest single group of interstate commuters, reflecting the fact that this is the largest occupation group among employed people. In particular, for Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, Professionals were a particularly important group of commuters, accounting for 29% of people commuting to Tasmania, and 27% of people commuting to the Australian Capital Territory.

However, for those resource rich states experiencing high levels of mining and construction activity, the importance of Technicians and trade workers was apparent. While people in this occupation group accounted for 14% of all employed people in 2006, they represented 29% of workers commuting to the Northern Territory, 25% of those commuting to work in Western Australia, 19% going to Queensland and 18% of those going to South Australia.

8.33 Proportion of Employed Persons Who Commuted to Each State/Territory, By occupation(a) - August 2006

Place of work(b)

New South Wales

Victoria

Queens-land

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Australia

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Managers

15.7

15.3

13.0

14.9

11.3

16.6

9.7

17.7

15.2

Professionals

21.1

21.2

19.3

20.3

21.9

28.5

19.7

26.7

22.1

Technicians and trades workers

14.8

13.8

18.7

17.7

25.2

14.3

28.9

11.7

15.8

Community and personal service workers

9.9

8.4

9.1

8.4

6.1

10.4

8.6

8.5

8.9

Clerical and administrative workers

11.5

10.3

10.3

6.1

6.0

7.0

5.9

21.4

12.5

Sales workers

9.3

11.2

8.4

5.9

3.7

6.4

3.1

5.3

7.9

Machinery operators and drivers

7.5

7.8

7.7

12.9

11.4

3.3

9.7

3.6

7.1

Labourers

10.2

11.9

13.5

13.8

14.4

13.5

14.4

5.1

10.5

Total(b)

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

(a) Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), First Edition (1220.0).

(b) 'Other Territories' excluded from analysis due to very small numbers.

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